Dakar Rally 2007

[zero_it]

Today is the rest day for the rally with over 2500 miles completed in the first 7 days of racing, 7 more days to go. American Chris Blais is sitting in 5th place overall in the motorcycle division. There are currently 4 of the 11 American motorcycle starters still in the race. Chris Blais, Casey McCoy, Steve LaRoza and Chris Jones are currently flying the flag for us. Jonah Street was having a great race, running in the top ten, until the engine on his KTM puked on day 4.

Andy Grider is teamed up with Robby Gordon racing a Hummer and sits in 16th in the car division. Gotta like it when a motorcycle desert racer and a NASCAR/Baja trophy truck racer can put a team together and do that well in Dakar!

There are good daily updates at www.dakar.com and at www.eurosport.com

 

[Yz250FinAZ]

Will any of the next 7 days be on tv?

 

[SpDyKen]

Will any of the next 7 days be on tv?

Yes, on the "VS." channel, (formerly OLN.) Daily (stage) updates are on every day at 3:00pm EST, and repeated at 6:30 each day, through next Sunday. Weekly reviews, (I think,) are on Sat. & Sun. evenings; tomorrow's times are 7:00 & 10:00pm, EST.

The sites listed by zero_it are good, but the best place is ADVrider.com 's "racing" forum at: http://www.advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25 . Many current & past Dakar participants post there regularly. Some examples are Jonah Street, Chris Blais's wife Patty, (both today!), Scot Hardin, Jimmy Lewis, and many, many others with first-hand experience at this brutal event, including first hand accounts by european "spectators" (the Nomads,) crew members, and the racers themselves (although most of those will come later on.) You will find links here that will keep you busy for hours on end, and maybe most of the night.

Unfortunately, I know, now, exactly how tough the rally can be as, first, my good friend James Embro experienced difficulties in his second rally (finished 56th last year) and had to drop out. Then the very next day, my friend Elmer Symons, from South Africa, died from what has been assumed to be a high speed crash. Elmer had been living near me at James house for over a year, working as James mechanic last year. He has Scot Hardin's Red Bull USA KTM mechanic in 2005. Elmer was an unbelievable guy in so many ways and had many, many friends here in the USA,and all over the world. He died too young, at 29, pursuing his life-long dream.

I'll post more later, on both the Rally itself, and Elmer too. He was an honorable and straight-up guy that taught me a lot.

I posted here, in THIS FORUM, about Elmer's death, Tuesday, knowing that many people checking posts here would know him since he competed in the EnduroCross every year, Last Man Standing, BITD, GNCC, Enduro, HS, Perry Mtn. 24 hour, and many other events. Some moderator moved my post to the "General & Off Topic Discussions" thread where it got buried. See http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=145342

Good luck surfing; I'd be happy to answer any questions. :cool:
I hope you have some time on your hands!

And as Elmer always said, "Keep it on one wheel!" :ride: :cool:
Ken W. (Reality Rules, at ADVrider)

 

[zero_it]

Thanks for the additional info, Ken. My condolences regarding the loss of your friend Elmer. It's got to be difficult for his friends & teammates in Dakar to race hard without letting thoughts of Elmer distract them too much. James & Elmer's teammate Steve LaRoza is a good friend of mine. Report from Steve's mom is that their chase truck ruined a rear wheel in Spain and James dropped out to assist with that. I think all of the remaining USA riders are running out of just two chase trucks now. Best of luck to them all. Stay safe out there in the desert.

 

[SpDyKen]

Hello Zero_it,
I've been cheering both Steve & Chris (Jones) on! It had to be very tough on them both. First, they loose their support truck, then one of their teammates is killed. I'm glad they have been riding together & helping each other. And it's been awesome how Team Rally PAI and Robbie Gordon's teams have stepped up and helped out Steve & Chris with transporting their gear. The PAI team has been nicknamed "The Home For Wayward American Motorcyclist" because of their help with our guys!

BTW, the JJE/SSC support truck experienced several different problems, mostly related to carrying too much weight. This caused problems with all 6 tires/wheels, but their were power steering & other problems. We had to fly someone over with 6 new to Morroco, but even that was fraught with problems.

Keep in touch, I would love to hear about any updates you hear about Steve from his family.

Thanks, Ken W

 

[zero_it]

Got some photos from Dakar sent to me yesterday. Shoot me your e-mail and I'll forward them to you.

 

[robwbright]

The coverage on VERSUS is really well done!